


And so is the Golden City blackened

by follower_of_lamashtu



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cheating, Choking, Coercion, Cunnilingus, Dubious Consent, Evil!Surana, F/M, Impregnation Kink, Lyrium Addiction, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Suicide, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-20
Updated: 2015-01-20
Packaged: 2018-03-08 09:43:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3204629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/follower_of_lamashtu/pseuds/follower_of_lamashtu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only cure for the Calling Surana could find was Red Lyrium. She sneaks into Skyhold to seduce Cullen and turn him against the Inquisition for her master. Cullen is in love with the Inquisitor (written racially- and sexually-ambiguous), but he is weak when caught off-guard by a former flame. NOTE: Suicide/major character death warning is for chapter two only, which is optional.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Temptation

There had been a hole in the ceiling of the Commander’s bed chamber for so long, that his first night sleeping under the repaired roof felt stiflingly hot. The thick, quilted blanket was kicked into a bundle at the foot of the bed, and Cullen snored softly in just a pair of loose cotton pants. He awoke with a start as the creak of one of the doors to his office below, sitting up in bed and blearily reaching for a match to light the candle on his nightstand.

  
By the time the room was lit with a faint glow, he heard the sound of someone climbing the ladder up to him. He picked up the short sword on the floor just beside his bed. It wasn’t his preferred weapon, but it would suffice in a pinch. He began to climb out of bed when the intruder’s head popped into view, and he dropped his sword to the floor with a clatter. The elf woman grinned up at him. Her face was unmistakable, even with the obvious toll of the last ten years lived as a Grey Warden.

  
“Maker’s breath,” Cullen swore, a bit breathlessly. She giggled at that and continued up the ladder until she stood up, pausing at the entrance to the room.

  
“Knock knock. May I come in, Ser Templar?” she asked, unable to keep the corner of her mouth from ticking up into half a smirk. Cullen swallowed before he could speak, nodding dumbly until he regained speech.

  
“Surana. Yes, of course, come in,” he said, looking at her as though she were some strange combination of ghost and confection. She stepped gingerly toward his bed, her bare feet silent on the stone floor. Cullen’s mouth went dry as he watched her approach; with each step, she undid a button of her robe, beginning at her throat. He licked his lips several times before he could speak, when she was halfway to his bed and her robe was opened several inches below her bosom. She shrugged with one shoulder, and the fabric slipped down, revealing one entire breast to him, and most of the other.

  
“What do you… think you’re doing?” he asked her, sitting on the edge of his bed, frozen as he stared at her. She giggled again, shrugging her other shoulder and letting the robe fall entirely off her body and onto the floor at her feet. Cullen’s eyebrows raised nearly an inch at her lack of any sort of underclothing; she now stood before him wearing nothing but a locket on a chain. She took the last few steps to him, and stopped when she stood just between his knees.

  
“What does it look like I’m doing, Commander?” she asked. She reached forward to run a hand through his hair. He inhaled sharply, but didn’t move. “I’m glad you’ve done so well for yourself, after Kinloch Hold. I’ll admit, when I heard of your courageous deeds for the Inquisition, I almost wondered if it were a different former Knight-Captain Cullen.” She made no move other than continuing to gently brush his hair with one hand. He forced himself to breathe steadily and not move to touch her, though at least one part of him ignored the request, lengthening and swelling, pushing out towards her against the cloth of his sleeping clothes.

  
“I had heard you were unreachable, seeking a cure for the Calling,” he said. He finally had a moment of clarity, clearing his throat and shaking his head. “You shouldn’t be here. Not like this. If you’ve heard about the Inquisition, surely you must know that the Inquisitor and I are-” The elf warden silenced him with two fingers over his mouth.

  
“I’ll announce myself in the morning. Leliana and Alistair will be so happy to see me that I doubt I’ll get any other chance to speak with you in private,” she said. “And I found a cure for the Calling. It’s why I came here, as it seems you’ve taken in the remaining Wardens.” She lowered her hand to cup his jaw, tracing the scar over his lip with her thumb. She slowly leaned over, giving him plenty of time to pull away. He didn't move, and she pressed a chaste kiss to his mouth. He didn't pull away or kiss her back.

  
“Surana. Please. I love the Inquisitor. And even if I didn’t, I’m the Commander of the Inquisition. Corypheus can control the gray wardens, this is inappropriate of me, and you shouldn’t be here,” he said quietly, their faces barely an inch apart. She chuckled and rolled her eyes slightly.

  
“I notice you haven’t said I should leave because you don’t want me here,” she said, before pointedly glancing down to his crotch, then back to his face. “And at least part of you rather emphatically wishes me to stay.” She stood up and stepped forward just slightly, enough for her knee to just barely graze the hardness between his legs, and for her breasts to be mere inches from his face.

  
“Th-that should go without saying. I love the Inquisitor,” he repeated, despite the groan he couldn’t hold back at the faintest touch of her against his manhood. She tenderly reached for his hand, which he let go limp, not fighting her, but not moving of his own volition. She brought it up, and rested it against a breast, squeezing his hand to make him cup it. Her firm nipple pressed into his palm.

  
“Tell me you don’t want me. I won’t breathe a word of tonight to anyone. We couldn’t have each other back then. We can’t have each other after tonight. But right now, until the sun rises, we can. Right now can exist outside of time, outside of our lives. Right now we can be two very attractive bodies, naked, in bed. Doing everything you longed for before everything went to hell,” she murmured softly. Cullen looked up into her eyes, just as deep and beautiful as he remembered them.

  
Without consciously thinking about it, his other hand slowly rose to cup her other breast. There was no movement other than the tentative caressing of his hands against her. He massaged her breasts full-handed at first, and then lowered them to gently pinch her nipples, drawing a very quiet moan from her parted lips. She stepped a few inches closer, and Cullen turned his head to take a nipple into his mouth. She gasped and slid her hand back into his hair, bending her knee to more purposefully rub against his erection. He groaned against her warm softness, wrapping his arms around her waist and hauling her onto his bed.

  
She landed on her back on the mattress, her necklace bouncing to the side and sliding backwards around her neck. Surana bent her knees and planted her feet on the bed, parted enough for Cullen to lie between them. He moved on his knees to do just that, leaning down over her body and kissing her hungrily. She moaned into his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck, moving her hips to grind her slick, swollen vulva against the bulge in his pants, drawing out another groan from him.

  
He kissed her so thoroughly and deeply, as though he could drink her, as though he’d been waiting every day for the last ten years to taste her. He slid his hands down the sides of her body until he reached her hips, which he gripped for leverage to grind back against her. She arched her back, breaking the kiss and moaning. She wrapped a leg around his waist, pressing against him until her hot wetness soaks into the thin garment separating them.

  
“Oh, Cullen. We have waited too long for this,” Surana whispered, shifting her hips until her clit rubbed against the head of his cock, making her gasp, then moan. He groaned as well, but grabbed her leg to ease it off of him. She looks down at him, arching an eyebrow. “Haven’t changed your mind, have you? It’s just rude to get a lady this turned on and not get her off.” He shook his head, grinning in a way that makes him look like the young, barely out of training templar he used to be. Then he started kissing down her chest and stomach.

  
“I’m afraid if I took you right now, this night wouldn’t last as long as we’d both like,” he said against her stomach. She had more of a belly than she had before. One might even describe her as chubby. He nuzzled his nose against the soft padding she’d put on. He liked it, felt it suited her, made her look _more_ than the skinny apprentice mage of his teenage fantasies. She made a soft whimper when his stubble grazed the inside of her thighs.

  
A thick, callused finger slid over her puffy outer labia, and she whimpered louder this time. He collected her slickness on his finger, and she felt impossibly warm and inviting. Her body felt… tingly to him, likely because of the magic inherent to her being, and his keen templar senses couldn’t be quieted enough to ignore it. She propped herself up on her elbows to watch him through half-closed eyes. He pulled his finger out, slick and glistening with her juices. Their eyes met for a moment.

“Taste it, Cullen,” she hissed. Her eyes take on a strange glint, of neediness that borders on anger. Her intensity surprised Cullen, but he took it as a compliment as he slid the finger into his mouth.

  
_Lyrium._

  
She tasted like _lyrium_. He looked up at her, puzzled, but his mouth watered. The Inquisitor was an archer, and no woman he’d been with had been a mage either. Did they all taste this way? He licked the finger clean and swallowed. Her face broke into a wide grin, the glint in her eyes flashing a glowing red.

  
“It’s the cure for the Calling, Cullen. Red lyrium. It lets the Elder One inside you, and He can drown out the singing with His own,” Surana purred, reaching a hand down to spread her pussy open for him. The lyrium hit his stomach like a punch in the gut. In an instant, all the pain and sickness of withdrawal left him. He felt amazing. Younger, vibrant, stronger. _Virile._

  
He buried his face in her cunt, lapping at it like a man starving. Surana moaned and arched off the bed, reaching down to tangle her fingers in his hair. He was all sloppy enthusiasm, lips and tongue ravaging every inch of lyrium-soaked flesh inside her. He gripped her thighs to hold her closely against his mouth. She began to thrash under his relentless assault, moaning his name and cursing as he drank his fix from her.

  
“Cullen! Oh, Maker, I’m going to cum… don’t stop, please, don’t stop,” she whined and pleaded to the room, and Cullen didn’t back off for a second. Satisfied he’d gotten all the lyrium he could from inside her, he slid his mouth up to suck on her clit. His lips closed around the nub, which he sucked to a swollen head, then circled with the tip of his tongue. Surana was reduced to wanton mewling and begging, and when she seemed on the edge of breaking down into sobs, he gave her button a single, firm flick.

  
She screamed, her back arching off the bed, her body thrashing around him. He held her thighs still and didn’t stop swirling his tongue around her until she begged him to stop. He pulled away with a wet ‘pop,’ then shifted to kneel between her legs again. His cock stuck out painfully hard against his pants, a small wet spot of precum making the slit visible through the cotton. He untied the pants and shuffled them to his knees, then off his legs entirely.

  
Surana reached up to yank off her necklace, opening the locket to reveal a glass vial, shaped to exactly fit within it. The glowing red liquid inside lit up her face, and drew Cullen’s eyes to it. He could hear a voice inside him reminding him of their enemies, of the danger, of his Inquisitor. Of how proud everyone was of him for his abstinence. Was. It was broken now. He was broken, but he felt too good. How could the people who claimed to love him want to keep him from this? From feeling so alive, and strong, and healthy? Surana bit the cap of the bottle and spit it onto the floor, then dripped half the contents of the vial over her breasts.

  
In an instant, Cullen surged forward, slamming his cock home inside her in one hard thrust, and planting his mouth on her breasts, desperately lapping at the red liquid. He grunted as he pumped his hips, driving into her welcoming body, sucking her breasts hard enough to leave them spotted with bruises in every place the draught had landed. She latched her legs around his hips, rising up to meet every thrust, pulling him deep within her. She gave a guttural groan every time the Commander bottomed out inside her tight elven body. He pulled away from her chest when he had taken all the lyrium there, meeting her gaze as he slowed down, but shoved into her harder, and deeper, like he could find more lyrium if he could only reach a bit further.

  
“Give me the rest of it,” he commanded the next time he fully hilted himself inside her. Her head dropped back to the pillow as she moaned, and she poured the remnants of the vial into her mouth, and then sat up, keeping her lips parted to show him the draught on her tongue. He grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her forward for a crushing kiss, drinking deeply of her mouth as he set a brutal pace inside her. She used her tongue to help serve him all the lyrium in her mouth, coating his tongue in it, filling his mouth.  
She grabbed his hair to pull him back so she can breathe, but he won’t be moved. She pushed at his shoulders, but he remained locked to her mouth, desperately pistoning in and out of her cunt. She whimpered, tears forming in the corners of her eyes from lack of air, her face turning faintly blue. She started to see black spots in her vision when Cullen finally pulled back. She gasped for air, glaring at him, but he grinned back down at her, unmoved by her struggle. She sharply brought a hand up to slap him, which he did nothing to block. Her hand connected loudly, and he groaned, wrenching her legs further apart to bury himself deeper.

  
“Surana! Andraste’s tits, you’ve no idea how good this feels. Your body, your voice, your lyrium,” he groaned. “Maker but I needed this. I needed you.” Surana’s eyes rolled back in her head from the combination of his fucking and his words. How thoroughly corrupted she’d made her templar. She put her hands to either side of herself and pushed up.  
Cullen understood what she wanted, the lyrium singing in both of their minds making them read each other easier now. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hoisted her up so he’s sitting on his heels, she’s sitting on his lap, and he thrusted up into her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let her head loll back, her breasts pressing against his upper chest.

  
“Cullen! Fuck, yes! Maker, I always imagined this was how a templar would fuck a mage,” she groaned. He chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

  
“No, this is how I fuck you. Just you,” he said between grunts. Surana grinned and laughed.

  
“You don’t fuck your Inquisitor like this then?” she asked. He groaned, lowering her onto the bed and turning her over. She got on her hands and knees, and Cullen grabbed a handful of her hair, the new position letting him take her even deeper still.

  
“No, no. The Inquisitor likes it sweet and romantic. It’s… quite nice,” he said, faltering for a moment. Surana whipped her head around to look over her shoulder at him, squeezing him tightly with her inner muscles.

  
“Oh? Does you get to cum inside your Inquisitor?” Surana asked, a taunt in her voice. She moved her hips to fuck herself on Cullen’s cock as he paused inside her. “You can cum inside me all you want, Cullen. I’m a Grey Warden. And even if that won’t protect us, I’d love to give you a baby.” She cut herself off slightly by moaning as she impaled herself on him. Cullen groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head as he grabbed her hips and continued to plunder her, fucking her deep and hard. Surana screamed, almost going limp, being held up solely by his hand on her hip and his fingers in her hair.

  
“Is that what you want? You want me to give you a baby?” she asked. She grinned. She knew that would get him going. He’d lived with Samson for years, and the man had told her everything he knew about Cullen before she left for Skyhold. She knew Cullen dreamed of being a father one day, and knew the Inquisitor wasn’t going to be in a position to start a family any time soon.

  
“Oh, yes, Cullen! Cum inside me! Give me your child! Please! I’ll give you everything! Babies, lyrium, the Order, purpose. Please, please, cum for me, come back with me. We can have everything we thought we missed out on!” Surana cried, before finally truly collapsing beneath him, writhing and bucking in a powerful orgasm. Cullen roared, matching the scream of the lyrium inside him as he slammed once more to fully sheathe himself in her, pouring his cum inside her. She moaned and squeezed him, milking him of all his seed.

  
“Surana! Nngh, yes, _take it_!” Cullen shouted as the last of him trickled out into her. He slowly pulled out, both of them groaning for the loss, and it took his cock significantly longer than usual to go completely soft again. Surana leaned off the side of the bed to grab her robe, fishing out another vial of red lyrium draught and tossing it to him.

  
He laid on the bed next to her, already recovered from the exertion, now relaxing on the mattress, pleasantly sated. He caught the draught, biting off the cap and downing it all in one gulp. Surana could see the arteries around his mouth already starting to stain red. He pulled her back into his arms, drawing her close until her head rested against his chest. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Sure, she was here to corrupt him. But he was warm, and handsome, and she was a bit touched at his tenderness after all that. She supposed not even red lyrium nor Corypheus would crush the kernel of gentleness in him, if nothing else before this had. She rubbed his chest and planted a soft kiss against the hard muscle.

  
“Are you really going to come with me then?” she asked quietly. She didn’t want to fail her new master, didn’t want the Calling to return, but she also couldn’t stand the thought of being rejected by Cullen, not now, not after everything else she’d given up. Cullen smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

  
“There’s no place here for me now. I suppose it’s time I give up on lost causes. I’ve put myself behind too many as it is,” he said to her, and she smiled, cuddling up to him and falling asleep in his arms.


	2. Redemption

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath is a bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this chapter is optional, depending on what kind of an ending you want. No smut in this chapter, plus an open-ended major character death.

The morning is cold, and made colder by the lack of the warm body she fell asleep with. Surana sits up in bed, looking around the room, but the Commander isn’t there. Neither is his armor, or his sword. She senses magic somewhere in the room, but the empty lyrium vials, her enchanted clothes, and her still-groggy mind keep her from locating where. She sets her foot on the floor beside the bed, and screams when a cage of lightning magic springs up around her.

She shrieks, anger bursting red behind her eyes. She pushes against the cage with her own magic, but it holds fast. She flies into a rage, and red crystals push out of her right hand, covering her fingers. She punches it through the barrier and scrambles out, pulling on her robe and running for the drop in the floor. She doesn’t bother with the ladder, just jumping down and expecting to catch herself with a barrier.

But the barrier never springs into place. The moment she began her free-fall, she feels her connection to the Fade abruptly close off. She screams in rage, but nothing comes out. She lands on the floor sloppily, her ankle twisting hard, but not breaking. She crumples to the floor, glaring about the room at the four templars, one blocking each door and window. She gets up and runs for the one who looks the weakest, the young man in front of the window, who has just enough time to raise his sword.

She punches him with her crystalline fist, and manages to puncture his armor. He grunts in pain, but then clocks her on the temple with the broad side of the sword. She falls to the floor dazed, and the other templars move in, shackling her and forcing a vial of magebane down her throat. A stocky templar of average height with dark brown skin grabs the shackles on her hands, and she feels another templar grab the longer chains on her legs behind her.

“Move,” the man in front says, and they half-drag her from the tower. She kicks and screams until they have to carry her, tying her ankles together now. They head into Skyhold proper, and the inner bailey is full of people.

She spots Leliana first, who storms over and slaps her hard across the face.

“How _dare_ you!” the Nightingale said, and Surana had enough decency to wince at the venom in her former friend’s voice.

“You don’t know what it’s like. The Calling. You don’t know what it feels like to have your entire body singing to you without respite, screaming for you to find a battle to die in. I’ve lost everything to the blight, and it will never end! If we kill the last Old Gods, the darkspawn will still exist, only leaderless. It won’t end, ever, unless someone can control the Blight, and Corypheus is only one who can!” Surana screams, finally finding her voice again. Leliana slaps her again and storms away. Alistair stands off to the side, and he meets her eyes briefly, shaking his head and turning away, following after Leliana.

Surana flails and kicks, desperately trying to wrench away from the templars. The two carrying her drop her, and she hits the stone hard on her shoulder. She cries out in pain and, predictably, can’t get her tied feet beneath her. The templars stay close, letting her get the fight out of her system on the floor. She screams and thrashes until she spots Cullen, standing behind the throne while the Inquisitor holds him, kissing his face and talking softly to him. Cullen looks near tears, or perhaps had been crying before, but the two are hugging and clearly reconciled. Surana goes limp on the floor, all the fight and will drained from her. The templars pick her back up again, and she goes quietly to the dungeons below Skyhold.

          --

Surana wakes up on the cold stone floor or a prison cell. Looking out through the bars, she can see the other half of the brig is torn open, a sheer drop straight down the mountain. She sits up, her chains clinking together, and she hears a guard send a runner at the sound. She crawls into the far corner of the cell and curls up in as small a ball as she can make of herself. She feels empty inside, and her dull eyes meet the Inquisitor’s as soon as they walk up to the barred door.

“Mage Surana. The Hero of Ferelden,” the Inquisitor said. “It’s a shame you’ve fallen to Corypheus. We previously sought you out as an ally. He controls the Calling, and when I kill him, it should stop. We could’ve helped you.” Surana breaks eye contact, looking down at the floor.

“I heard the Calling before everyone else. And you can’t kill him. We could barely kill Urthemiel without dying ourselves. And what if what he says is true? What if the Maker is gone? I’d rather have someone than no one,” Surana says. The Inquisitor only shakes their head.

“So, am I going to stand trial? Executed? Will you do the deed, or your Commander? He’s had my life in his hands before,” Surana spat. The Inquisitor sighs.

“If you don’t speak of Cullen ever again, I may show you mercy. I’m less angry that you gave up to Corypheus than I am about you using his addiction against him. Someone who used to love you. How _dare_ you,” the Inquisitor says, rage barely contained in their voice. “I can’t let you go. You know that much.” Surana presses back against the wall, slowly sliding herself up to her feet. She lurches toward the bars until she leans against them.

“Let me out. I’ll jump. You can watch me. Save everyone else the pain of watching me die. I know…” she takes a shaky breath and chokes, tears running down her cheeks. “I don’t deserve a hero’s death, I know. But everything else was taken from me. Let me take this myself.” The Inquisitor looks her over. Cullen had said that Surana had been one of the only good things in Kinloch Hold, before things went bad. Cullen had loved her, and part of him might always love her. Leliana and Alistair had loved her too, though not in the same way.

The Inquisitor sighs again, with a finality to it, and unlocks the door, sliding it open. Surana steps out, and the Inquisitor unbinds her hands and feet. She turns to face the broken-open half of the dungeon, takes a deep breath, and runs for it. She feels the tattered edges of her connection to the Fade, just barely touchable as the magebane begins to lose its efficacy. She leaps from the keep, and a blue barrier pops up around her a few seconds after her feet leave the stone.

She has no idea how long it will hold.

It is a long fall.

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter two is completely optional. Basically, if you want Cullen to stay evil, then stop reading here. If you want Cullen to be redeemed, read chapter two. Major character death warning for chapter two only.


End file.
